Glenmar takes truck-permit fight to heavy vehicle regulator

GLENMAR Fuels owner Glenn Hentschel has taken his fight against the Southern Downs Regional Council to the national heavy vehicle regulator.

Mr Henstchel has lodged an appeal against a council decision to reject his application for a B-double permit.

The permit would allow the fuel trucks to drive along 2.15km of the Allora-Clifton Rd to the company's service shed.

The frustrated Allora business owner said he could not understand the council's reason for knocking back the application.

"There was no real reason for it to be rejected," he said.

Mr Hentschel said the decision was costing his company valuable time.

"It means we've got to put a lot more time into moving our equipment up to service it," he said.

"It's also a safety risk having to disconnect our trailers and put them back on again."

The national heavy vehicle regulator had no issues with the application.

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Should the Southern Downs Regional Council allow B-doubles to drive on the Allora-Clifton Rd?

This poll ended on 02 December 2015.

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Yes

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No

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The appeal is likely to come at a cost to the council, according to SDRC director of engineering Peter See.

Mr See told a meeting of the council the appeal would require a structural assessment of the road.

"If that appeal does happen we'll have to have a structural assessment done and that will cost us money," he said.

"We assess around 20 of these applications a week and we've never had an appeal."

In last week's meeting Deputy Mayor Cr Ross Bartley disputed the decision, demanding answers about why the appeal was rejected. "If it's a safety issue now, maybe we should look at the culvert," he said.

"I believe B-doubles cause less stress on the road - they spread the weight.

"I believe there are probably things going over that road that don't split weight."

Mr Hentschel backed Cr Bartley's comments.

"The culvert is only 12.9m in length," he said.

"The B-double would put less stress on that culvert than a dog and trailer would."

Cr Bartley asked directly if there was an issue with the culvert.

Mr See said there was nothing to suggest there was an issue with the culvert.

"Our engineers made an assessment that B-doubles are not suitable for that road," he said.

"Council has previously knocked back B-double access."

The director warned councillors that if they overturned the engineer's decision, they'd have to access every application.